Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-10-26
to ner, ana wny should that deter her

lover! InuEtl Jt SuN Htr great eve
blazing in the half darkness
As for him. he merely shrugged hi
shoulders gracefully, and stopping, whist
ling softly, gently raised in his hand
kissing rattleSnake, which had but tn
moment crawled up at his feet Tn
snake swung its head from side to side
as II beating time to the music of its mas
ter. After il had glidcd atsut his necl
and arms, iinal. coiling in his breast. tn,
swar,hy charmer carelesSly tossed the rep
tile over his shoulder back into the Quite
darkness. That WAS strange trick; Mis-
World being amused thercwith Regarded
the dark faced athlete with so intereste,
and strange gaze. that he in his turl
thrilled 10 the look. softly subdued rs Tho
snake had been under his own conqucrina
charm.
He had tameless blood in him. And
now on the mol,!y earth he sank-lay
there crying out his wild heart in an alien
tongue of mad prayer and words of fire
This exhibition was not SO very anus
ing. and Yet more dangerous than rattle
snake or dynamite. Miss World led
higher up. and finally 10 the top OF The
ladder. 10 see what Molly Derrick was
about
NuA spiii INV thttt WIZ
no vista. Only vast binding sheet Of
rain, through which the lightnngs. leap
ing, gave brazen glimpses of rhostly trees
writhing uprooied or snapped aSunder in
the valley below, while the thunder roarcd
and crashed among the hills.
What OF Molly Derrick. Had the tear
ing blast swept her from the summit into
the yellow hillside torrents ON into the
swirlinG canyon heyonds
! When the storm cleared, and the moon S
washed face looked out, Molly was dis
covered, drenched, bruised and butfetetl
with clinging by rock and shrub but still
dominant-at her post with the field glass.
A fog lay over san Gregorio Canyon-a
| fog 50 thick one might almost have cut it
| in shretls like melon slices Wild Cat had
| vanished, and travellers across the Devils 5
Backbone moved like spirits in a gray
dream. Surely they had chosen a sweet
morning for drive, and a charming road 4!
The driver was able TO see no furt her
beyond than the buttocks OF the two
horses. The road was not wide enough,
liz most places, for two teams 10 pass each
other; for the rest there WAS gorge on
each hand. and jagged rocks 100 feet be-
low. 10 catch ones body in q tender en-
brace.
II was a bat or bird flew right In the
horses faces and started them All, it
must have been no canny thing rushing
through that gray gloom-fog beating in
ones face with the very smell of death in
it-plunging through a Ghostly wall of
mist 10 Unseen retributiOn!
Their very instinct of danger, ap-
parently, kept the horses some minutes
ON the ledge. The Engiishman was no
coward. If he had had his hands free, he
would have risked shooting the horses
dead: as it was lie could only hold tho
lines in tense, steady grasp, and wait for
IA sharp curve to settle it for himself and
the woman by his side. Now
had come the mortal leap. The brutes
reared an instant on their hind feet, at a
shout near their heads. There was
thunder Of fore hOofs on the rocky road
way; the carriage swerving righted, stood
still, The Englishman leaped over the
dash board, unloosed the traces, soothed
the horses and reached their heads.
Thither his companion of the carriage was
before him; she stood by the fallen body
of Indian Joe, his skull crushed by the
iron shod hoofs, and the life beaten utterly
from the bold breast.
a long, long silence. Then the woman
tirilicd the mufiled air with her voice's
Grange sweetness:
There was n man. There lies the hero
We been all my life looking for All, me-
Well. by the side Of him you bore me
tire me. Think shall go away alone"
In the name of God" cried the Eng
lishman. 'and ~